President Biden Meets in Bethlehem With Abbas, Supports Two-State Solution
The US president gave no details on what his administration would do to help make a Palestinian state a reality
US President Joe Biden’s meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank didn’t take him to Ramallah, the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, but instead to Bethlehem, just a few miles south of Jerusalem.
President Biden’s meeting with Abbas on Friday at the Presidential Compound in Bethlehem lasted about 75 minutes.
Biden offered his support for a two-state solution to the Palestinians’ conflict with Israel but gave no details on what his administration would to do to make a Palestinian state become a reality.
Standing next to Abbas and addressing reporters, President Biden said the Palestinians require a political path toward peace with Israel, even if a two-state solution to the conflict appears far off.
“There must be a political horizon that the Palestinian people can actually see or at least feel. We cannot allow the hopelessness to steal away the future,” President Biden said.
The 87-year-old Abbas said that the Palestinians “look forward” to US efforts to “stop settlements and settler violence” and to an end to the “expulsion of Palestinians from their land.”
“The key to peace begins with recognizing the state of Palestine,” Abbas said.